Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in December
December was a bumper month for Sussex’s judges, juries and magistrates.
By Matt Pole
Published 7th Jan 2022, 13:35 BST
These are some of the most serious, high profile and prolific offenders who were jailed in the final month of 2021
All information comes directly from Sussex Police.
5.
Dylan White, 22, unemployed, of Rugby Road, Dagenham, was charged with possession with intent to supply Class A drugs after officers arrested him for being involved in a suspected drugs deal in November 2018. White was found in possession of a key to a room in a local guest house, and a search of the room found 63 wraps of heroin and 81 wraps of crack cocaine with an estimated street value of around £1,500. He was also charged with being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs after police dismantled a county line being run by White from East London to Hastings. Officers from the Metropolitan Police and Sussex Police executed a search warrant at White's address in Dagenham on March 9, 2021. White was found in possession of a phone that was sending out bulk messages to drug users advertising that he had Class A drugs for sale and would travel down to Hastings to sell them. When presented with overwhelming evidence against him, White pleaded guilty to both drugs charges as well. On Monday, December 20, he appe Photo: Sussex Police
6.
Sarjo Jatta, 44, a doorman, of Eldred Avenue, Brighton, was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court on Friday 17 December. The first 20 years will be spent in custody and the other four on extended licence. He had been convicted in September of the rape, sexual assault, and false imprisonment of a woman aged 22 on 8 February 2020, and the rape of an 18-year-old woman who he had met in a club in Brighton on 13 September 2015. Jatta was found not guilty of four counts of sexual assault on a woman aged 19 during December 2011, and the rape of a woman aged 18 on 18 August 2017. He will be a registered sex offender for life. Jatta was charged in March 2020 after the 22-year old victim reported that he had offered her a lift home as she was walking past the city centre casino where he was working a a doorman, but that when he took her to his car he would not let her out until he had raped and sexually assaulted her. He was immediately arrested and police records showed that four-and -a-half years earlier, he had been arrest Photo: Sussex Police
7.
Mark Hylands, 38, of Bramley Road, Polegate, was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court on 1 December, having been convicted of seven offences of sexual assault and three of exposure. He was found not guilty of three other sexual assaults and of one exposure. Hylands will be a registered sex offender indefinitely. He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) to last until further court order, prohibiting him from contacting his victims and from taking any paid work without police agreement. The court heard that while Hylands was working at the shops, first in Eastbourne and then in Hastings, he would engage in sexualised and offensive behaviour against three women working there, as well as carrying out specific sexual assaults and exposing himself to them. Women customers also complained about his approaches to them. Eventually he had to leave the Eastbourne shop where he had assaulted two colleagues, but undeterred he found a job at a similar place in Hastings where he began to behave in exactly the same Photo: Sussex Police
8.
Aaron Wilks, 38, unemployed, of Ash Grove, Bognor Regis, was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on Thursday 16 December, having been found guilty by a unanimous jury on 10 December. He will serve a minimum term of 25 years and was also given, to be served concurrently with the life sentence, six years for blackmail, 30 months for possessing an offensive weapon, 21 months for criminal damage and 20 months for arson. Mark Stoakes, 60, had been at home with his family on the evening of Thursday 8 April, 2021 when they noticed their garden gate was on fire. Mark and his wife ran to the front of their house in Oak Grove to see who was responsible for starting the fire. There, they encountered Aaron Wilks. Wilks was holding a blue bottle and began spraying a liquid towards the victim and his wife. Mark, protecting his wife, stood nearest Wilks and became drenched in liquid - a liquid later confirmed to be petrol. Wilks then produced a flame, which ignited a fire instantly. Mark suffered extensive burns and was tak Photo: Sussex Police